The 2022 Spring Festival lasts for 40 days, starting on January 17 and ending on February 25. The reporter learned from China Eastern Airlines that during the Spring Festival, China Eastern Airlines will coordinate the prevention and control of the epidemic, the transportation guarantee of the Beijing Winter Olympics and the Spring Festival, focus on the passenger demand of hot spots and hot routes during the Spring Festival, focus on the homecoming visit market, and increase the capacity on peak days.
Affected by the current domestic and international epidemic situation, this year's Spring Festival will show the characteristics of "early start and high demand for returning to visit relatives". It is predicted that the peak of this year's Spring Festival will appear between January 24 and January 31, the passenger flow during the Spring Festival will be one-way, there will be a short depression stage during the festival, and the peak of return passenger flow is expected to appear around February 7, and then it will stabilize. In accordance with the relevant deployment and requirements of the Spring Festival guarantee and epidemic prevention and control work, China Eastern Airlines will, as always, strictly control the epidemic prevention and control pass, prepare sufficient flight capacity, continuously improve the level of Spring Festival support, and make every effort to protect the safety of passengers and ensure smooth travel.
In terms of routes, China Eastern Airlines has increased its capacity around key areas of the Spring Festival such as East China, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Hainan, Southwest China and Northeast China, paying special attention to the market increase in Hainan, South China and Yunnan, and encrypting the frequency of popular routes such as Sanya, Boao and Xishuangbanna. Among them, it will increase investment in the Boao market in Hainan and adjust the aircraft types involving Sanya and Haikou routes during the Spring Festival; in Yunnan and South China, 1436 new flights are planned, mainly involving Guangzhou-Qingdao, Kunming-Chengdu Tianfu, Shanghai Pudong-Beihai and other routes. As of noon on January 14, China Eastern Airlines has implemented 4916 flights this year.
In terms of capacity, China Eastern Airlines, Shanghai Airlines and United Airlines wide-body aircraft will be fully put into operation on routes with strong domestic market demand during the Spring Festival. China Eastern Airlines intends to change the key routes implemented by some narrow-body aircraft to wide-body aircraft, including Shanghai Hongqiao/Pudong-Sanya, Shanghai Hongqiao-Changchun, Beijing Daxing-Chongqing and other routes. As of January 5, 2022, a total of nearly 1,190 narrow-body changes have been implemented, and more than 117,000 seats have been added, and the capacity will continue to be optimized according to the passenger flow.
(CCTV reporter Guo Zhen)